Teen faces murder charge after victim dies

LUMBERTON — A Lumberton teenager is now facing a first-degree murder charge after the person he is accused of shooting on a high-traffic road in the middle of the city died.

According to Erich Hackney, an investigator with the District Attorney’s Office, Nathaniel Lepine, 24, of the 1400 block of East 11th Street, died on Sunday. He had been shot multiple times while in his vehicle near Walnut and 21st streets in Lumberton at about 1 p.m. on March 16 and had been cared for at an undisclosed hospital in the interim.

Jacob Hill, 19, of Kings Crossing Road, Lumberton, who was already in the county jail under a $2 million bond, was charged this morning with first-degree murder and was being held without bond on that charge. He is also charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle, and two counts of shooting into occupied property.

According to Lumberton police, Hill was taken into custody after his home was searched on Wednesday by police, SBI agents and Hackney.

Police Capt. Terry Parker said previously that police who responded to calls of shots being fired found a red Honda with the injured Lepine inside. A white vehicle had been seen leaving the area.

Hackney said in a press release today that the vehicle, a Nissan Maxima, was found Friday evening in Robeson County, where it was hidden after the shooting. The statement did not say where. Hackney said there was evidence of Hill’s efforts to clean the car.

Hill is also charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, possession of Xanax, maintaining a drug dwelling and possession of drug paraphernalia. Hackney said digital scales, $3,175 in cash and two more firearms were seized from Hill’s bedroom. His bond on the drug charges was set at $10,000.

Hill was critically injured in May 2017 during a shootout in the Godwin Heights area of town involving several young people. Those charges are still pending.